


Pain

by zaynedere



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Blood, Coping, Ghost Keith (Voltron), Graphic Description of Wounds, Grieving, Gunshot Wounds, Japanese Keith (Voltron), Japanese Shiro (Voltron), M/M, Sad, Wounds
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-12
Updated: 2016-10-07
Packaged: 2018-08-14 14:49:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8018230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zaynedere/pseuds/zaynedere
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Keith is hurt during a surprise attack, and pays the price for his recklessness.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! I needed to write something other than my dragons so I let my fingers come up with this short, feelsy story! I'm thinking of making it longer though, with Keith maybe as a ghost who floats around and keeps Lance out of trouble until Lance dies and they're reunited??

_Pain._

 

That’s all that Keith could feel right now.

 

Burning, hot, _pain._

 

He licked his dry, bloodied lips, trying to remember what was going on, where he was.

 

They’d landed on this planet, Keith couldn’t remember the name, via some distress signal radiating from one of the many caverns. They all came in their paladin armor, as per usual, and traversed through the caves together; splitting up was too dangerous on a foreign planet, especially underground. From there on, he struggled to remember what happened. He remembered walking into a dimly lit cavern that quickly lit up with purple lights of Galran gun fire, and he remembered his legs carrying themselves to jump in front of Lance and Pidge to shield them from the heavy fire.

 

It’d been a bad idea, yeah, but it was better than three of them getting hurt. He remembered the numbness he felt as a laser shot into his stomach, another entered through his left thigh, and a final one hit his left arm. He fell to the ground, and then the pain had hit him all at once, a groan shooting up into a cry of pain. He looked at what was left of his arm; his hand had been blown to smithereens, and it trailed off into a messy and gory stump a few inches from his elbow. The sight nearly caused Keith to puke; the wound was half cauterized, still leaking thick crimson blood, and he felt that same blood dripping out of his stomach and creating a small crimson pool in the area below him.

 

He would’ve screamed if he could find the energy too; but right now, he forced himself to stay awake, shaking in pain. The others had started fighting back, Lance, his _boyfriend_ , standing over him protectively and shooting anything that glowed purple, save for Shiro’s hand, of course. They were at for what seemed like forever to Keith, but in reality it was only a few minutes. Breaths didn’t come easy, for every inhale and exhale felt like a volcano erupting in his body.

 

Keith hadn’t noticed that the gunfire had stopped until he saw Lance’s face hovering above him, tears in those brilliantly blue eyes. He wanted to comfort Lance and say _please don’t cry, it doesn’t suit you,_ but instead of words that came out of his throat, thick crimson floods out and he coughs, splattering himself and Lance in the color. His own eyes are squeezed shut in shaky focus; trying to stay awake as he lay on the floor of the cavern.

 

Soon though, a cry that he realized belonged to himself rang out as he was lifted by someone. The pain in his stomach and thigh doubled, and each quick breath burned even more. He groaned continuously as Shiro jogged them back, each bounce causing him more fiery pain. He was loaded into what he presumed to be the black lion, it's paladin laying him on the floor before shooting them away from the cave systems, and to the castle that lay not too far away.

 

In his comm system, he could hear jumbled words and voices that overlapped, many of them asking _is Keith alright? Will he make it?_ He heard Lance’s oh so familiar voice shakily reply with _O-Of course he will. He always makes it._ Guilt pooled in Keith's gut along with the blood. This time, he wasn’t going to make it, he could feel it even as he was being lifted onto a gurney and stripped down. Allura’s frantic face popped into his line of sight, and more guilt was added to the pool. He raised a hand as Shiro started pulling off his chest piece, stopping the other silently.

 

“ _I’m not gonna make it this time,_ ” He whispered, tired eyes struggling to stay open. He heard a group of quick footsteps, and suddenly Lance replaced Shiro, a long hand gingerly cupping his face. The group knew that this time, Keith was too reckless. The red paladin’s instincts led him straight to his death. Each of the paladins rested a hand on a part of his body; Hunk had a hand on his leg, Shiro’s hand on the other. Pidge and Allura took up the good arm, and Coran simply put a hand on his Princesses shoulder. Crystal tears flowed out of everyone's eyes, falling down onto their outfits and the floor. Keith smiled weakly up at Lance, his breaths becoming slower. “ _I’ll see you later, okay?”_ Lance nodded, leaning down to press a kiss to the paladin’s dying lips. Wet drops fell onto Keith’s face as they kissed, and that was the last thing he felt until everything faded black, and his heart stopped beating. The pain was finally gone, and the red paladin could rest now. Lance muttered a sentence against cold, bloody lips, tears falling continuously.

  
“ _Wait for me.”_


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally continued it!! I hope you guys enjoy it, I'll try to update it again soon!

Everyone grieved in their own ways. Hunk occupied the kitchen for the week following Keith’s death, stirring up some of the most delicious goo that the castle had ever seen, though it was usually picked at and half eaten by the others. Pidge, for the first few days, was like a hollow ghost, eyes red rimmed and distant as she worked on whatever she could get her hands on. Usually she worked on various parts of the ship that the others hadn’t gotten to yet, and was usually missing unless it happened to be meal time. Shiro outright cried in front of everyone afterwards, heavy sobs shaking his chest. Keith had been his family; practically his  _ brother,  _ and the shock of having his last ties with earth severed hit him  _ hard.  _ After the initial breakdown, he spent a lot of time in his room, spending a lot of time in  _ bed,  _ asleep or crying. Allura was rather silent through the ordeal, but it was clear that she was just as upset as everyone else. Her usually glittery eyes had lost their glow, and she spent many hours sitting with the lions, or in her room, coping in her own way. Coran spent a lot of time with Hunk in the kitchen, keeping himself distracted as he learned how to keep the food goo from tasting like a rotten  _ yarkborvian.  _

  
  


Lastly, Lance. 

 

He was probably hit harder than Shiro had been. Keith and Lance, while at first were off to a rocky start, eventually fell in love. Not the cheesy kind of love that was shown in movies, or the kind of love Lance joked about  _ constantly,  _ but real, genuine  _ love.  _ After the first few months, Keith had practically moved into Lance’s room, and the two obviously shared a bed. When they had laid in that bed at night, they would talk about each other, or what they missed about earth, or what hardships that they’d gone through in the earlier battle. Sometimes they would just cuddle and enjoy the other’s presence, other times things got a little more  _ intimate,  _ but Lance never made it to home base, he never truly got to show Keith how much he loved him, and it  _ hurt.  _ He spent  _ days _ sobbing in their room, hugging Keith’s pillow and shirts as he grew tired enough to sleep. He ate the least out of the group, but still ate because he knew that his boyfriend  _ hated _ it when Lance didn’t take care of himself. The blue paladin blamed himself, as silly as it sounded.  _ If he had just seen them first, maybe Keith would still be here.  _ The thought played in his head, dragging him down into a funk that he didn’t feel like climbing out of. 

 

A week bled into two, and most of the castle members were starting to actually interact again; spending some time in the commons with idle chatter, or working on fixing something together. But Lance, he didn’t leave his room unless it was for meals. Luckily, the universe seemed to understand their pain and didn’t force them to fight like usual, and Lance was grateful for that. He was just  _ sad  _ now, missing the familiar warmth that had graced his side each evening, missing the gentle kisses before battles and the harsh, relieved ones that followed after. He missed the feeling of soft, black hair under his chin, he missed the deep eyes that would always look back into his own.  _ Fuck,  _ He missed Keith, and everything that had come with him. 

 

\--------

 

When Keith floated back into conciousness, he didn’t open his eyes right away. He was laying on a hard surface, and his eyes opened to inspect his surroundings. The floor of the healing pod room greeted him, and he groaned, sitting up and looking around with a stretch. When had he fallen-Oh. Well, that’s different. His left hand wasn’t where it was supposed to be, and as the healing pods came into focus, he realized that his own body lie frozen in one of them. 

 

_ “What the fuck?”  _

 

He stood on shaky legs, almost falling as realization hit him. He, Keith Kogane, had died. Shot three times by searing Galran bullets, carried back to the castle, where he promptly died with the feeling of being kissed by his lover. A frown tugged its way onto his lips, looking down at where his wounds had been. Keith’s stomach and thigh looked healed, and his stump were his hand used to be looked healed, fresh skin pulled over cut off muscle and bone. Keith ran the fingers of his right hand over the stump, amazed at how smooth it felt. 

 

The doors of the room slid open and spooked Keith, who’s head jerked up at the sight of his boyfriend shuffling into the room, looking more downcast than Keith had ever seen him. He swallowed and watched as the living man walked up to the pod holding Keith’s body and sat in front of it, sniffling softly. He didn’t say anything though, he just sat there, crying softly. Keith frowned even more at this, his quiet heart breaking at the sight of Lance crying. “Lance,” He murmured, tears filling his own eyes. “Please don’t cry. Please.” Of course, Lance didn’t hear him, and kept on crying, causing tears to leak down Keith’s own ghostly face. 

 

His boyfriend stayed there for awhile, eventually running out of tears and leaving the room. Keith followed him back to their room, curling up in the bed next to Lance. His pillow was being occupied by the other, so Keith settled on using Lance’s pillow. The sensation was weird; he could feel his head sink into the pillow, but he didn’t actually see it sink down. Lance eventually turned around, facing Keith but obviously staring past him, lost in his own world. Keith almost cried again at the sight of Lance’s face.

 

The man looked so  _ tired,  _ and  _ sad,  _ it almost physically hurt him. The once bright blue eyes lost their playfulness, chocolate-colored hair unkempt to the point that even  _ Keith  _ wanted to comb it out, which was definitely saying something. Keith wanted to do a lot of things right then. He wanted to kiss Lance and tell him to stop being sad, that he was right here. He was to hug Lance, and tickle him until he laughed so hard that he couldn’t breathe. He wanted to be  _ visible  _ to Lance, or even be able to talk to him until the other fell asleep. He knew he couldn’t have any of these things, and that’s what hurt Keith the most. 

 

He watched as Lance closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep, and Keith closed his eyes as well, expecting to be taken by sleep. He wasn’t though, and that made him even sadder. 

  
Sleep had been one of his few escapes, and even that had been taken with his life. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, hmu @zaynewrites if you ever wanna chat! I accept almost all prompts !!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Added another chapter!! I hope its enjoyable, I kind of just typed it up while on a call with the gf? Its unedited, so let me know if there's any typos!

Keith laid in their bed for hours, staring at Lance’s face and occasionally letting his fingers comb the other’s hair. He found that if he put enough pressure into it, he could actually move some of Lance’s hair, but he quickly stopped in case it woke the other. Of course, he wanted Lance to know that he was there, but the tanned man needed his rest, and Keith didn’t want to be the one to take it from him. 

 

After around four hours, he grew bored and left a gentle kiss on Lance’s nose before exiting the room, finding it weird that he could walk  _ through  _ the closed door. It was a strange feeling, one that he couldn’t exactly explain. It almost felt like walking through a breeze, but  _ seeing  _ the mechanical insides of the door unsettled him, a gentle frown gracing his face as he emerged into the hall. He took this chance to look at his outfit, finding his skin covered by his favorite outfit, minus the jacket. His feet were left bare, but the usually cold floor didn’t bother him, oddly.

 

Keith made his way down the familiar hall, noting how the once light hearted mood of the castle was now low. He stopped at Shiro’s room, letting his head peek in to check if his friend was in there. The man was indeed in there, sitting on his bed and looking down with a soft frown. It was obvious that he was tired and sad, bags under his sharp eyes and short hair a tousled mess. The dead man stepped in and walked closer to Shiro, noting that the Galran hand started glowing dimly as he neared. Shiro seemed surprised as well, eyebrows furrowing as he lifted the foreign technology. Keith stepped closer, resting a hand on the prosthetic, watching as it glowed brightly, somehow reacting to the ghost touching it. Shiro jerked his hand away, and Keith frowned, stepping away and out of the room. He didn’t want to raise the leader’s stress levels more than he already had. His next stop was the kitchen, fondly watching Hunk and Coran cook. They were somewhat happy, though sadness still rested lightly on their faces as they mixed the green goo and some reddish flakes together. Keith didn’t bother to walk in, opting to go visit Red. Maybe his lion can see him, similar to how Shiro’s hand had. 

 

He stepped into the lion’s bay, eyes looking over the room. Pidge was sleeping against one of the pillars, laptop dimly glowing next to them. A fond smile found its way on his face, and then he heard metal shifting, looking back to see red lowering her head and opening her mouth. The paladin happily climbed in, sitting in the worn seat with a sigh. “You can hear me, right Red?” A grumble came from the Lion, and Keith took that as a yes. 

 

“Sorry for leaving you behind back there… I was kind of… In a tough spot. I guess you figured out that I kind of, well, died,” Keith rubbed his face with his good hand, laughing tiredly. “I never thought that I would be talking to you. I guess you’re the only one I can talk to now,” A bitter laugh left him, and suddenly his eyes were filled with tears. He was practically alone. He could barely interact with the other Paladins, and none of them had no idea that their friend’s ghost was wandering the halls. “I didn’t wanna die,” He mumbled as tears dripped down his face. “I was s-supposed to help defeat Z-Zarkon and s-save the universe. Lance and I w-were gonna go back to Earth a-and get a house and even g-get  _ married.” _

 

Red purred softly to him, comforting her paladin. He calmed down a bit at the comforting, wiping his face with a smile. “Thank’s buddy,” He whispered, looking up as the screens lit up, showing the outside of the lion. Pidge was awake and peering at them closely, pushing up their glasses.

 

“Red? What’s up? Why did you turn on?” The shorter human asked, only receiving a grumble from the lion in return. Pidge frowned, grabbing their clipboard and jotting down some notes. Keith smiled fondly, running his pale hand along the armrest of his seat. 

 

“I’ll go now before Pidge starts interrogating you.” He stood up, feeling thoughts trickle into his head. Keith nodded and left the lion, smiling as her head lowered and mouth opened for him. He stepped out, watching Pidge curiously walk around his lion. Keith jogged over to the computer, seeing a wordpad already up. A tentative finger pressed down on one of the buttons, and surprisingly worked. He pressed the backspace, then typed out a message that read:  _ Pidge, it’s me, Keith. I’m kind of floating around here. Just thought you should know. _

 

He didn’t really know what else to type, but figured that it was enough. Keith was never very good with words. He looked up at Red, smiling up at her. “Can you get Pidge to look at their laptop, please?” Red seemed to hesitate for a moment, she didn’t like being told what to do after all, but a heavy paw eventually lifted, pushing Pidge towards their laptop. The young paladin yelped in surprise, stumbling over to the laptop with a grumble. 

 

“Seriously, Red, what’s your deal? I know you’re like,  _ naturally _ an ass, even... without…” Their voice trailed away, staring at their laptop screen. “ _ Oh my god, _ ” They cleared their throat, a mix of nervous and irritated emotions crossing their face. “Okay guys, this isn’t funny. Seriously, what the hell, what’s wrong with you guys?” Silence is all they received. “Guys? Haha, you got me, you’re so  _ funny.  _ S-Seriously, come out now.” No one did, and Pidge’s eyes widened, looking around. “Oh… Oh my god. Is this for real? Keith? Are you seriously there?”

 

Keith leaned down, avoiding touching Pidge as his fingers sank into the keys, spelling out  _ yes. It’s me.  _ The other watched this happen, looking around with wide eyes. “ _ Oh my god,  _ y-you’re actually-this isn’t possible-how-” Keith started typing again, biting his lip.  _ Go get Allura, don’t expect me to know what the hells happening.  _ Pidge sprinted away at that moment, leaving the ghost to stare at the computer. 

 

Keith wasn’t really lost in thought when Pidge returned with more than one person in tow, he was just sitting there, staring at the computer mindlessly. The others who had entered the room were Allura and Lance, who definitely looked freshly awoken. Keith always loved that look on him; tousled hair, sleepy look on his face. So cute, in his eyes. 

 

Allura spoke up, eyes glancing around the room. “Keith? Are… Are you  _ really _ …  _ Here? _ ” Keith let his fingers rest against the keyboard again, and all eyes were on the small laptop as letters worked themselves into words on the screen.  _ Yes, it’s me. I’m here. I don’t exactly know what’s happening, can you explain it? Also, hey sweetheart.  _ He usually wasn’t so sappy around the other paladin’s, but Lance deserved some love. Said man started crying, arms wrapping around himself as he read the words directed at him. 

 

“H-Hey babe…” He mumbled, wiping softly at his face. Pidge stood at his side, rubbing his back with tears in their own eyes. Allura even seemed to be a little emotional, eyes teary as well. 

 

“Keith, I think, I think I know what’s happening. Well, maybe not. My father said that when his brother had passed, they stored his body in a cryopod in hopes of recovering him. His… Spirit had floated around the castle apparently,” She took a soft breath. “And had disappeared after he tried to leave with my father. He said it had something to do with the castle’s quintessence, I-I don’t exactly remember. But if… If you’re here, we can attempt to return you to your body.” Keith typed as quickly as he could with one hand, frowning softly.  _ So I can’t leave the castle? How long until I can come back? _

 

Allura sighed, biting her lip with a shaky sigh. “I’m not quite sure… We have to get your human heart to start beating again, and your spirit should return. Hopefully.” Lance frowned, sniffing.

 

“ _ Hopefully?  _ What happens if it doesn’t? Where will his spirit go?”

 

“Well… It might… disappear… If anything were to go wrong.” Allura looked almost guilty, a slight fear in her gentle eyes and Lance’s own fear sparked into light anger.

 

“ _ Disappear?  _ As in,  _ gone? _ ” Fear was clearly laced into Lance’s voice, despite his angered appearance. “We can’t do that! We-We just got him back!  _ I  _ just got him back-” Rapid one handed typing interrupted him, and his eyes shot down to the computer.  _ Lnce, babe, calm down. We nned to try everythin so i can come back.  _ There were a lot of typo’s and Keith apologized for it.  _ Sorry for the typos. Hard to type fast w one hand.  _ Lance stared for a moment, swallowing. “It… Your hand is still gone?” He murmured, anger melting away. If Keith wanted to try, then he wanted to support him, despite his skepticism.  _ Yeah, it’s gone. I don’t have any scars tho.  _ There was silence throughout the room before Keith started typing again, biting his lip.  _ Lance, I know that you’re nervous about losing me. But if we don’t try, then I could be stuck like this, without being able to talk to you or to touch you, or anyone else. I don’t want to be stuck like this. I can’t even sleep.  _

 

Lance seemed to understand this, sighing and letting his broad shoulders slump. “Yeah… Okay. I-I guess if, if you really want to do this…” He looked at Pidge and Allura, swallowing softly. “Just, make sure nothing goes wrong, alright? I… I don’t want to lose him again.”

 

Allura stepped forward, resting a comforting hand on the paladin’s shoulder. “We won’t make any mistakes. We’ll bring him back, okay?” Lance nodded, clearing his throat after a moment. 

 

“Hey, you guys wanna go get everyone else so that they’re in on this? Shiro first… He’s…” Typing stopped his voice.  _ I saw him earlier. Please bring him, he’s really upset.  _ Pidge nodded, leaving the room to go get the man. 

 

“I’ll get Hunk and Coran, as they’re both in the kitchen again,” Allura offered, patting Lance’s shoulder then leaving as well, leaving him with the ghost. Keith started typing again.  _ Come sit down baby. I know you’re tired.  _ Lance did as told, sitting to the side of where he was sure Keith was sitting, and he was correct.  _ Put out your hand, I’m going to try and hold it.  _ Again, the living man obeyed, letting his hand lay on the ground, palm up and fingers spread. Keith slid his hand into the others, squeezing as hard as he could until he heard Lance choke out a gasp, tears welling up in his boyfriend’s eyes. “I-I  _ feel  _ your hand, oh my god Keith, this-this is real. Oh my god.”

 

Keith smiled and sat like that with Lance until Shiro came in, frowning softly at Lance. “Lance,” He said in a warning tone. “This isn’t some kind of prank is it?”

 

“What did Pidge tell you?” Lance asked quietly, face free of playfulness. 

 

“That you wanted to see me in here,” Shiro answered quietly. 

 

“Come sit next to the laptop, you’ll see what’s going on.”

 

The elder obeyed cautiously, plopped next to the laptop and reading the screen. “What the-” Keith immediately let go of Lance’s hand, typing carefully.  _ Hey Takashi. It’s me.  _ The man froze, eyes wide. “K… Keith? This… This has  _ got  _ to be some stupid joke, you’re  _ dead- _ ” He sputtered, and watched as more words appeared on the screen.  _ Yeah. I am dead. I’m kind of a ghost right now. Allura knows how to get me back tho. I just thought that youd like to know that Im still ehre.  _ Keith cursed and corrected his typing.  _ Here, i meant.  _ Shiro immediately started crying, and Keith looked down at the others Galran hand, watching it light up with Keith near.  _ Your hand glows when I’m near. Remember when it glowed earlier?  _ Shiro cried a bit harder at that, covering his face. “Oh, you’re here,  _ oh my god,  _ my  _ Otouto.”  _ Keith smiled fondly at that. Shiro was from Japan, as was Keith, so occasionally they spoke to each other in Japanese. The elder definitely adopted him as his younger brother, hence the name  _ Otouto.  _ The ghost started typing again, in an effort to help comfort Shiro.  _ Ani, I’m right here. Everything’s alright.  _ It took a few minutes for Shiro to stop crying, wiping his eyes as he saw Allura enter with Hunk and Coran. 

 

They’d already been filled in, and were immediately asking questions, Keith answering the best he could. Pidge returned minutes later, already excitedly talking to Hunk about how to get Keith’s heart started again. A glimmer of hope flashed in Keith’s heart.

 

Maybe he could be reunited with his family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, hmu @zayndere on twitter if you ever wanna chat!! I need more friends ;;


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